The feature race in Eastern Kentucky this week is the running of THE QUEEN OF KENTUCKY STAKES, which will go off as the\u00a0last race on the 16 race card. This Grade II event is over one mile on the dirt for fillies and mares 4 years old and up and offers a purse of $250,000.<\/P>
Let’s take a look at today’s field:<\/P>
1)BIG TIME STAR—8\/1—<\/STRONG>canismajor sends out this 4 year old filly out of ALDERBARAN with a record of 26-10-4-2 and lifetime earnings of $268,470. This 194th divisional ranked filly tried the turf at 2 years old for 4 races and then switched back to the dirt over a mile and showed great improvement and ended up winning 2 stakes events that year. Those were her only stakes race wins of her career as she is 2\/12 in stakes action and 0\/3 in Graded races.\u00a0She did not progress as well as expected at 3 but did turn out to be a steady allowance horse winning 4 races in her 3 year old season. She has seemed to pick up her game this year though with 3 straight triple digit speed ratings and winning 2 out of 3 allowance contests. In her last race she put up an impressive 106 speed rating. Dorchak (9.6%) will have this one either on the lead or pressing it early in this race today.<\/P> 2)WHITE FLAG—19\/1—<\/STRONG>ryantoga\u00a0sends out this\u00a06 year old mare out of TWINING with a record of 54-7-11-5 and lifetime earnings of $294,075. This 265th divisional ranked mare is 2\/23 in stakes races and 0\/7 in Graded race action. Her best race of her career was a 2nd place finish in a Grade III event last year where she posted a 107 speed rating over 7.5 furlongs. She is a veteran campaigner who ran 19 races last year in her 5 year old season. She does throw the odd great race and Guiterrez (7.5%) will hope to have this one positioned back early and have her coming with her big late move in the stretch.<\/P> 3)MAKAMOTO(JPN)—53\/1—<\/STRONG>nudiebar22\u00a0sends out\u00a0this 4 year old filly out of FUSAICHI CONCORE(JPN) with a record of 17-4-1-3 and lifetime earnings of $53,456. This 1065th divisional ranked filly started her career on the turf and switched to the dirt during her 3 year old season. She is 0\/2 in stakes action and this will be her Graded race debut. She seems to be better suited to run in allowance races at this point in her career which is why her morning line odds are so high today. She has been outrun in all of her starts so far this year and her lifetime best speed rating is 98 which will have to be drastically improved upon to be competitive in this race. Pellegrino (0%) will be looking for his 1st win of the season with this mount today.<\/P> 4)GLASS HEART—7\/1—<\/STRONG>4stardave sends out this 6 year old mare out of STORMIN FEVER with a record of 40-10-8-7 and lifetime earnings of $1,490,848. This 46 divisional ranked mare was unraced at 2 years old. She opened her career at 3 with 3 straight wins and had a stellar debut season in which she posted 2 races with 111 speed ratings in 2 of her Graded Stakes wins. She has 6 stakes victories in 33 lifetime stakes starts of which 4 are of the Graded variety. She won her allowance debut in the current 2007 season and has a second and third place finish in stakes races since. Her last race was in the Minnesota vs Vermont Rez Challenge competition and her speed ratings have been on the upswing in her last 4 races suggesting this millionaire lady still has a few licks in her yet. Tedrow (4.8%) will have this closer poised to make her move in the stretch drive.<\/P> 5)FILET CHEVAL—9\/1—<\/STRONG>hansg sends out this 5 year old mare out of MINESHAFT with a record of 34-9-9-3 and lifetime earnings of $659,563. This 10th divisional ranked mare has 4 lifetime stakes victories in 16 starts of which 2 were Graded stakes events. She posted her best career race last year at 4 in winning the Grade I Superfilly Stakes in New York posting a 108 speed rating in the 8.5 furlongs contest. She seems to have her best races while racing on the lead but has shown some great closing races as displayed last year in the Grade III Del Web Distaff. Her 2007 debut was a dull effort but she seemed to pick up her form in her last race in Peurto Rico where she got the lead at the top of the stretch before succumbing to the eventual winner of the race. That race may have been the tightener she needed for this race today. Izquierdo(3.6%) will be the jockey for this mare today.<\/P> 6)FLUORIDE—7\/1—<\/STRONG>amybab1 sends out this 6 year old mare with a record of 30-12-7-3 and lifetime earnings of $366,989. This 300th divisional ranked mare is making her Graded stakes race debut today and has an 0\/5 lifetime stakes record. She has been a consistant allowance competitor and her connections have picked and chosen their spots with a conservative race selection which probably accounts for her consitant form in all of her races. This closer has a lifetime best 110 speed rating earned as a 3 year old. She started off the 2007 season with an allowance win in Dubai posting a 108 speed rating in the mile contest. She has 4 wins in her 7 races overseas and now returns to North America for this race today. Moffett (4.7%) will be in the saddle for this race today.<\/P> 7)MINNOW(IRE)—32\/1—<\/STRONG>nikolai sends out this 5 year old mare out of MONT JEU(IRE) with a record of 9-3-3-0 and lifetime earnings of $74,415. This 775th divisional ranked mare seems to have had some major issues in her career resulting in a very light race history to date. She debuted on the turf a 2 and then did not make it back to the track for 2 years where she ran 2nd on the turf and then came back to win a dirt MSW race. After another turf start in her 2007 season she has been racing exclusively on the dirt since. With 6 starts already this year it is hoped that whatever ailed this mare early in her career has been corrected. She posted her lifetime best 103 speed rating 2 starts back but in her only career start to date she finished 12th beaten 18 lengths.\u00a0She ships to North America to race on this side of the ocean for the first time in her career.\u00a0Bogue (8.7%) will guide this closer in today’s race.<\/P> 8)LEAVINGONAJETPLANE—7\/1—<\/STRONG>urso sends out this 5 year old mare out of RUNAWAY GROOM with a record of 22-9-3-3 and lifetime earnings of $380,915. This 45th divisional ranked mare has won 6 stakes races in 18 lifetime black type starts but is 0\/7 in Graded events. She posted her best lifetime speed rating of 106 over 8 furlongs in her last outing. She has been stabled in Eastern Kentucky\u00a0since that race and will not have the anxiety of having to ship in for this race today. She tends to win in bunches as displayed by two 3 race win streaks in her career to date. She best races while stalking the pace from a few lengths behing and McGaunn (13.4%) will be asked to keep her fairly close to the pace and then pounce in the final furlong.<\/P> 9)ALY STORM—10\/1—<\/STRONG>mowar sends out this 6 year old mare out of STORM CAT with a record of 23-7-4-2 and lifetime earnings of $794,479. This 55th divisional ranked mare was once considered one of the best of the division after having a stellar 2 year old season that included 2 Graded stakes wins. She ran into a tough spot in the Breeder Bowl Juvenile filly race that year finishing well back but was still pointed to the Bluegrass Oaks in Kentucky for her 3 year old season. Disaster seem to strike her in that race where she broke down and did not make it back to the track for 2 years. Since coming back she has been a steady worker with 3 stakes victories in her 2006 season. She has 6 stakes wins in 17 lifetime tries with 3 of those of the Graded variety. She posted her lifetime best 110 speed rating in her 2006 finale in a Grade II win in Arkansas. In her 2007 debut at this track she ran evenly which suggests that it was only a tuneup for this contest today. Desantis(14.6%) will handle this closer in today’s race.<\/P> 10)ALSO SWEET—4\/1—<\/STRONG>pick6king sends out this 5 year old mare out of POINT GIVEN with a record of 23-10-6-4 and lifetime earnings of $645,440. This 18th divisional ranked mare is the morning line favorite for this race. She was unraced at 2 and made her stakes debut at 4 year old. She has 4 stakes victories in 7 lifetime tries of whic 2 are off the Graded variety. She comes into this race having beaten many of the others in this field in a Grade II race her in Eastern Kentucky 6 weeks ago. She comes in with posting 7 consecutive triple digit speed ratings. She has displayed versatile running styles and can adapt to whatever any race brings to her. She is also coming in to this race after posting her lifetime best 110 speed rating. Top circuit jockey Caves (22.4%) returns to rider her today. Lots to like about the favorite in today’s race.<\/P> 11)WAKIWILD—9\/1—<\/STRONG>turfsurf sends out this 4 year old filly out of\u00a0 FOREST WILDCAT with a record of 22-5-8-2 and lifetime earnings of $577,246. This 542nd divisional ranked filly has 3 stakes victories in 19 lifetime attempts but is 0\/6 in Graded events. She has had a difficult time handling Graded event fields but posted her lifetime best 106 speed rating in the Minnesota vs Vermont Rez Challenge which has her connections hoping she can break that jinx of her back today. She also won the Minnesota Oaks stake in her 2006 finale which was one of 3 lifetime races where she has posted a triple digit speed rating. While she does not always win, she is a consistent top 3 finisher which has been very profitable for her connections. This filly seems to run best as a closer or midpack stalker and will be in the hands of the very capable Thorson(14.6%) for this race today.<\/P> 12)EXILE ON MAIN ST—9\/1—<\/STRONG>super18 sends out this 4 year old filly out of THUNDER GULCH with a record of 20-6-7-3 and lifetime earnings of $1,080,210. This 8th divisional ranked filly is one of two millionaires in this race today. She has 2 stakes wins in 9 lifetime black type starts and both of them are Grade I affairs. She won a Grade I Delpenn day race as well as the Grade I Vegas Special last year in her 3 year old campaign. This speed, stalker style filly has an impressive 80% in the money finsh rate for the ever powerfull super stables conglomerate. Her lifetime best 108 speed rating over 8 furlongs puts her right in the thick of things in today’s race.\u00a0Zamora (13.4%) will try to add to this filly’s impressive bankroll today.<\/P> 13)EXPRESSO D’ITALIA—11\/1—<\/STRONG>lasthope1 sends out this 4 year old filly out of MEDAGLIA D’ORO with a record of 23-4-3-4 and lifetime earnings of $724,840. This 68th divisional ranked filly has 1 stake win in 18 tries and that was a Graded victory in her 2 year old campaign. She was winless in her 3 year old campaign while running against the best fillies in the world but she did manage a 2nd place finish in the Equinics race and a 5th place finish in the Bluegrass Oaks in Kentucky. She won her 2007 debut in an allowance race to break the 14 race losing streak and finished 2nd in her last race her in Eastern Kentucky posting her lifetime best 107 speed rating. The only downfall to that is that the winner of that race is also returning to race here today. She is one of many closers and Balderes (12%) hopes to have her in high gear late in today’s race.<\/P> A top notch field of 13 entered in this Grade II event today but I believe that the morning line favorite will have to have the edge here as she beat many of the other here 6 weeks ago. I will pick #10 Also Sweet to win this one, but there are others here who may be ready to score the upset as well.<\/P> \u00a0<\/P> GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING<\/P> THEO<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fillies and Mares go one mile on the dirt in Grade II Stake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}